The Exasperation of a Billionaire

Nice interview in the Wall Street Journal with Mortimer Zuckerman.

'It's as if he doesn't like people," says real-estate mogul and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman of the president of the United States. Barack Obama doesn't seem to care for individuals, elaborates Mr. Zuckerman, though the president enjoys addressing millions of them on television.

Reminds me of a personally favorite line from Mad Men, when Roger Sterling says to Don Draper, "The reason you're no good at relationships is you don't value them."  Obama strikes me as one with a few (very few) but deep relationships.  The rest, he doesn't value; not in a personal way.

His narcissism is fundamentally different then that of Bill Clinton.  Clinton, genuinely, feels peoples pain.  He likes to shake hands and meet folks.  It's personal.  Of Obama I get the impression of someone who understands that folks are hurting through the lense of policy decisions.

That's the difference when Zuckerman talks about pain (people wanted costs controlled) and policy (but Obama instead made expanded coverage a priority).  Obamacare makes more sense from a policy position if you believe in healthcare as a public service; it doesn't make sense if you look at it politically or within the financial situation of 2009/2010.  When people were feeling deep and severe pain, Obama's actions were primarily in long-term policy areas -- Obamacare and supporting previous government policies that expanded state and local government by funneling "stimulus" money into preventing layoffs in areas that program costs had exceeded the ability of state and local governments to fund them.

Striking the right balance between the emotional and the rational is difficult.  A lot of people are far stronger on one then the other.  Favoring rational thought, however, can leave you blind to emotional factors that are just as critical to good leadership.

(Side note -- besides his comments directly on Obama, his real estate transactions starting in 2006 seem to be a good example of Positive / Negative Black Swan investing; by selling the buildings that would have a negative impact by a Black Swan -- the bubble bursting -- they put themselves in the position to have strong cash reserves and buy a couple premium buildings at discounts when the economy did crash.)